1. Field
The illustrative embodiments relate generally to an improved data processing system and more specifically to a method, apparatus and computer program product for an improved messaging system. Still more particularly, the illustrative embodiments provide a method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing electronic communications in an improved messaging system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A messaging system allows users to transmit and receive messages with other users of the messaging system in one or more sessions. A messaging system may be implemented on one or more data processing systems in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. An example of how a messaging system may be implemented is through one or more messaging servers and one or more messaging clients. One example of such an implementation is a messaging server that receives messages sent by one messaging client and transmits the message to one or more other messaging clients. The messaging clients, which may be implemented in a Web browser or one or more executables in an operating system, may process interaction with the user and may send and receive communications to the messaging server. The messaging server that may receive the requests may be implemented using one or more executables in an operating system or a Web server. The content of the messages sent and received by the messaging clients and the messaging server may be, for example, in the form of text, audio, or video.
Messaging systems are commonly used in the world of business because messaging systems are often more convenient than e-mail and more cost-effective than telephone calls or postal mail, especially when the parties are located in different countries. For example, a multinational company may provide a messaging system to its employees to allow communication with other employees and clients across geographical borders without the costs of international telephone calls or the delays of postal mail by making sending and receiving messages over existing data connections at each site. A project team at a business may be composed of employees at company locations in any number of countries. The project team may meet or communicate in individual messaging sessions or group messaging sessions at any convenient time using text, audio, and/or video messages through the messaging system.
Communication among employees in different countries becomes more complicated when the employees do not speak and/or write the same language. An employee in the United States may wish to hold a textual message session with a customer in China, but the employee may only speak English and the client may only speak Chinese. The employee may receive a message in Chinese, enter the Chinese message into a Web-based machine translation service, and read the English translation. To send a message in response, the employee may enter an English message into the Web-based translation service, receive the Chinese translation, and enter the Chinese translation into the messaging client for transmission to the client.